1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hats, and is particularly directed to a head-covering apparatus of the type which extends over the top of a human head and down its sides and toward the rear at the neck. The invention is specifically disclosed as a head-covering apparatus which has a forward extending portion with two pocket-style openings, the first pocket for receiving a flexible material that makes up the head-covering portion of the apparatus, and the second pocket for receiving the visor or bill of a baseball-style hat. The invention can be affixed to the visor/bill of a baseball-style hat and used in two different configurations: in the first configuration, the invention is “unfurled” so that its flexible material covers the human head and portions of the baseball hat; in the second configuration, the invention is compacted (or “furled”) such that its flexible material is rolled or folded into a small compacted size, and then placed into the first pocket of the forward extending portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,166,766 (by Banello) discloses a waterproof covering for visored caps, in which this cover is to be made of a waterproof plastic, such as polyethylene. The cover has a head conforming crown, a first pocket at the front of the cover, a second pocket at the rear of the cover, and a neck protecting portion. The first pocket receives the visor of a cap, and second pocket at is mainly to receive the cover itself after it has been rolled up into a smaller package. The second pocket is not used when the covering itself is in use, but only is used to hold the overall cover after it is rolled up and placed in that pocket. Moreover, this second pocket is at the rear portion of the cover, and thus is at the opposite end of from the first pocket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,264 (by Harris) discloses a plastic rainwear hood that has a main head piece, a brim, and a wraparound neck protector. The wraparound neck protector extends from the front of the neck all the way around and back to the front. The brim is made of a heavy stiff plastic and has a top side and a bottom side. The bottom side is folded under to form a pocket that can be used to receive the brim of a cap or hat. The Harris device has only a single pocket at the brim area.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,648 (by Nucifora) discloses a cap with pockets and a neck shield. The Nucifora invention looks like a baseball cap, but has a rear neck protector and two side ear protectors that apparently can be folded over the ears and down underneath the chin and fastened together at that point. The Nucifora invention includes two pockets, one having an opening at a first zip-fastener and the other having an opening at a second zip-fastener. Apparently, the pockets that are closed by these “zip-fasteners” are large enough that the entire flexible elements of the Nucifora invention can be rolled up and stuffed into these pockets. The two pockets are in two different locations, and neither one is at the bill or visor of the cap.